One of the things about lightwind is that you are operating close to where the kite wont relaunch.That means you could be off the board with the kite down and there isn't enough wind to relaunch the kite and you cant get to your board. The board could be moving one way with the tide and the kite the other way with the wind. It would be useful in winds where the kite may not be relaunchable to be able to retrieve the board, but because of the speed of raceboards and the potential damage from the fins, any leash would have to be long enough to make an impact unlikely. My current idea of long enough is that it has to be over 30' long.

One other occasion I could have benefitted from using a long leash was in about 12 knots of wind when my big twintip went upwind in a channel faster than I could bodydrag after it in the slower water to either side of the narrow channel.

I have done some experiments with leashes and haven't found one that is practical. I tried fly reel leashes up to 60' and the Oceanus retractable with an 8' extension. 18' was too short and over 30' seemed to be too long and the fly reels tangled too easily and rusted.

My ideal leash would be something like the Oceanus, but with a spring that retracted 8m of floating orange polyethylene webbing, and then a knot in the webbing stopped it from retracting the next 2m of webbing, which had a swivelling plastic clip on the end to leash to the board.

Flexi make the Maxi dog leash, which is a leash with 8m of webbing for dogs over 50 kg. If it had a stainless steel spring, it would be a possibility, but it did show that you could get a small sized leash with 26' of webbing, and with a 5' extension from the leash to the back of the board, you have a 31' leash.The spring inside the Maxi is not strong enough to rewind and retrieve the board (except maybe the first few feet), but the webbing is taut and in a straight line between you and the board, so if you pull the board back by hand, it packs the tape away neatly.Unfortunately the Maxi doesn't have a stainless steel spring and it seems you cant buy a stainless steel spring that would fit it.

There is a retractable clothesline that extends 40' and has a stainless steel spring. It is 6 1/2" diameter (17cm) and weighs 1 lb (480 gm). Its called the Sunline R400, made in China, and it seems to also be sold under other names as far as I can tell. eg. Household Essentials or Whitney.

I got one of these and had hoped to take it apart and see if the spring would fit the Maxi dogleash, but the body seems to be glued together and with postage to the UK of over £25, its too expensive to gamble on. It is cheap in the USA though, so someone in the US may be interested in trying it out as a board leash.I will try it out myself, but it may take some time before I have used it enough to know how it lasts, as I dont expect to use the raceboard much in very light winds for a while until I get better at riding it.

Here is a picture of what I modified on the reel.

I cut one of the plastic lugs off and reduced the other and drilled 2 holes in it to connect a ring to with some line. The ring will slide along the handlepass line on the harness.

The line that comes with the reel is a plastic core with a plastic sheath, and I dont know how robust it is. The general impression I have is that the whole thing is not as robust as the Flexi Maxi dog leash and the spring has a weaker return force. I reckon due to the weaker spring, it is probably not going to easily tidy away more than about 30' of line, so I have shortened the line from 40' to 30' and have added a 5' extension to connect the reel to the back of the board. I put a float ball on the line to act as a stopper. There is a small stainless steel fishing swivel (breaking load 90 kg) between the extension and the 30' line.

I drilled some small drain holes in the body at the bottom of the reel.

I have doubts about how long it will last, but thought I would post it up now in case anyone in the US was interested in trying it out.

you for sure don't need a leash. If it's too light to launch your kite you can swim to your board, windy launch your kite and body drag to your board its super fast and easy. faster than pulling in on a leash.

How would you be tacking etc with the stupid leash in your way all the time. If you really need something just get the GoJoe but can see how that will slow you down.

One of the things about lightwind is that you are operating close to where the kite wont relaunch.That means you could be off the board with the kite down and there isn't enough wind to relaunch the kite and you cant get to your board. The board could be moving one way with the tide and the kite the other way with the wind.

I always go raceboarding with a leash, on my harness not attached to the board! If the kite goes in the drink the first thing I do is attach the leash to the board and then work on the relaunch. It would be absolute and total suicide to attach the leash to the board while riding. I have sent the kite to escape a summersalting board with the 40 cm fins I could not imagine if there was a leash attached no matter how long it is I guarantee you that it will not be long enough and sooner rather than later you will hurt yourself or somebody else. Imagine your board floating on the end of your leash line and a kiter passes through to enquire if all is good and snags your line with his fins, only a minor example, he would fall off or drag the board into his board or crash and tangle or whatever... I hope you get the idea.....

me too, small piece of rope at the rear end of the board, just enough to put my second leash onto, which I carry on my harness.If the wind dies, I can just attach the board to organise my lines, roll them up on the bar, and then swim back, all this time I did not have to worry of my board drifting away from me.Simple safedude

A stupid idea (sorry all): Only if the wind is so light that cant relaunch the kite, try attach your extra long leash invent quickly to the chicken loop, let it go...swim to the board, get your kite and try relaunch o go back to the beach.

I think that you can only use it if you are alone, if other people are around they can help you. (really dont know how to help get a lost race board if you have your own race board...???)

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